The UK's Second Run DVD recently celebrated 10 years of existence and
100 releases. About a quarter of the reissue company’s titles have been
Czechoslovak films, ranging from the relatively famous Intimate Lighting
by
Ivan Passer to Adelheid, a lesser known work by František Vláčil,
director of the classic Marketa Lazarová. When I met the company’s
founder Mehelli Modi at a busy London café I wanted to know how he
selects
the Czechoslovak movies he releases. As he explained, it all springs from
his own life-long passion.

Mehelli Modi, photo: Ian Willoughby
“Essentially I used to watch cinema. I grew up in India and cinema was
really important. All through the ‘60s I watched films from around the
world which at that time came to India.

“Because India was a Non-Aligned nation. Americans had huge influence in
India because of their cinema. People went to see American movies, they
dressed like them, etc. A huge influence, culturally.

“So the Soviets, at that time, thought, Why don’t we send our movies
as well?

“From all the Eastern Bloc countries films were sent to India. Nobody
went to see them – but I used to go.

“I still remember the first [Czechoslovak] film I saw: Jan Nemec’s
Diamonds of the Night. And it was like, Wow, what is this film?

“So Czech cinema has always been really important to me. And when I
decided to start Second Run, the reason I started it was because I was an
avid DVD collector and the films I wanted to see were just not available.
Nobody’d released them.

“I thought, Let’s see if there’s a way to do something small, but
release things that you really care about and want other people to see.”

How is it acquiring the rights for these old Czechoslovak
films?

“It’s always been difficult, because they were all state films, etc.
But I think now they’ve got it quite well established. That films from a
certain period can be negotiated with the archive. They have the
materials.

“In a way, now that people know us it’s a much easier conversation.
When they didn’t know us, it was really difficult.

“It was like me saying, I’ve never released a film, I want to release
this and I can’t pay you very much. And they were like, Who are you?
[laughs]. But now it’s different.”

Of the Czechoslovak films that you have released, which have made the
biggest impact?

Photo: Second Run DVD
“In the UK? Interesting question. Because the starting point is people
don’t know these films. It takes a while and you have to keep pushing it
and pushing it.

“I guess the two films from a Czech point of view that have grown the
most from a zero base have been Marketa Lazarová, because it is an
incredible film, and Věra Chytilová’s Sedmikrásky (Daisies).

“Daisies is really interesting because when I released it literally if
we had a screening I’d be standing outside saying to people, Just come
and watch this film.

“We released it five or six years ago. Then the feminist people got onto
it and it grew because it is amazing. It’s a one-off.

“Last year there was a screening at a place called Wilton’s Music Hall
and the place was packed out – we had to bring in more chairs.

“I think a bigger company couldn’t do that, because they’ve got a
hundred other things to deal with.

“When we release Daisies it’s because we love it. And we don’t care
how long it takes. But at some point it crosses over and becomes much more
general.

“That’s happened to a lot of films. And over time they all kind of
equate. Not at the beginning, but if you look back four or five years
later, they’ve really grown.

“There’s something about Czech cinema of that time. People react –
there’s a kind of connection that comes through.

“You mentioned Intimate Lighting straight away [it features on the cover
of the Second Run 10th anniversary catalogue]. That is a beautiful film.

“There’s a story there as well. It was shown here and the subtitles
were so terrible that the subtlety of that film was totally lost.

“That’s why whenever we release something we re-subtitle it. We start
again. It has to be right. Without that, especially a film like Intimate
Lighting, would never, ever come across. There are so many things that
need
to be overseen.”

Photo: Second Run DVDYou also brought out All My Good Countrymen by Vojtěch Jasný. Is it
harder to re-release or release a film that has been restored? Is it more
complicated in terms of the rights and everything?

“Not really. I think what’s happened nowadays is that because of
digital most rights owners, a lot of archives, are finding that if they
can
collect some money together they can make HD transfers.

“Restoration is very different. The Czechs have done wonderful
restorations. But I think only four or five films, because it costs so
much
money to restore.

“However you can, if you have good materials, prepare a HD master.
That’s something that can be done on a kind of factory basis, with
somebody there who understands the quality of what the film should be.

“[The Czechs have restored] the Jasný, The Firemen’s Ball, Closely
Observed Trains, Marketa Lazarová. But I think those are the only films
that they have actually restored."

Would many of the titles that you have brought never have been
released in
English, or in the English-speaking world, before?

“A very large number. Because again the intention was, there are so many
great films that haven’t been seen… If somebody else has released it,
there’s not much point my releasing it as well.

“So we’ve actually tried to stay with films that have never had a
release. Some of them have never been released in the world. Some of them
have never been released in the English-speaking world. And some of them
have never been released in the UK.

“The Jasný was released in America before by a company that used to
release amazing Czech films called Facets. The quality was terrible but
they were the only ones who released them.

“So All My Good Countrymen was released there. Then the Czechs have done
a restored version, but I think it’s without English subtitles. So ours
is a UK premiere.

“But Marketa Lazarová was a world premiere. So most of them have
certainly never been seen in the UK. But generally they also haven’t
been
seen around the world until we release them.”

It’s very hard for me to believe that Marketa Lazarová wasn’t
well-known internationally, because it really is great. Many Czechs say
it’s the greatest of Czech movies.

“And it’s still being seen. If you look at that little brochure I gave
you, one of the filmmakers [Ben Rivers] talks about never having seen it
before and how it was a real revelation for him.

“But it’s not just that, you know. The films that were important –
this one, All My Good Countrymen, Marketa Lazarová, The Ear, Ucho.

“Ucho had never been released. It’s just magnificent and now it’s
more relevant, as well. I hope they restore it.

“Films going back a bit, filmmakers like [Zbyněk] Brynych… I don’t
know if you’ve seen his work? He made a number of films but he made an
extraordinary film called Transport from Paradise, which we released as a
world premiere. No-one had released it.

“So yes, there are still films which no-one has released that are on our
list.”

And you’ve also brought out something by the great Karel Zeman, I
believe?

“Karel Zeman had never been released in the UK, even though he’s been
so influential on filmmakers like Terry Gilliam and Tim Burton, etc.

“Last year we put out our first Zeman, Jester’s Tale, Bláznova
kronika. And again the reaction to it was, We want to see more Zeman. So
I’m trying now to release more Zeman.

“In Bologna, where they have a festival called Il Cinema Ritrovato,
it’s an archive festival, they made Zeman’s film, and our DVD, the
best
rediscovery of the year.

“So in a way I’m hoping these films get seen much wider than only in
the UK… Yes, Zeman is amazing.”

Generally speaking, do you think there’s some characteristic that
perhaps typifies Czech cinema?

“I don’t quite know how to express this, but Czech cinema of a
particular period, which we’re looking at, was influenced by the period
before.

“So if those circumstances hadn’t been there, I don’t think the
films we’re talking about would have been released.

“There was a great film school. Filmmakers had access to a lot of cinema
– I know for sure that they watched things from around the world at that
time.

“They had the state to support them, in a way, and a state to cause them
a lot of grief as well.

“So I think those kind of situations are rarely repeated. And I
personally don’t think we’ll see another period like what we call the
Czech New Wave.

Photo: Second Run DVD
“And I think it’s very specific to Czech-oslovkia. Because the
Slovakian filmmakers were very key for the Czech films. Vláčil was
Slovak, Herz was Slovak.

“So I think the nature of what they do was special because of where it
all kind of came from. If you look at Poland or Hungary, the history was
slightly different.

“I think the Czechs were very special. Because they also have this…
the Czechs over history have been betrayed so many times that they have a
kind of sense of surreal balance that I don’t think any other country
quite had.

“And they can capture it, in cinema. In cinema they can capture it,
yes.”